THE TRICKCAST: Boardroom Scholars & Magicians

Summary Why would the people building AI ask the government to slow them down? OpenAI, Anthropic and their researchers are calling for AI regulation, warning of risks up to and including extinction. Trump's answer, delivered live on a call with Nvidia's Jensen Huang: full speed ahead, and the US will not finish second to China. Alex and Amir set out to answer the question the headlines ski...

Summary Apple's first foldable, the iPhone Duo, starts at $1,999 and was the centrepiece of John Ternus' debut keynote as CEO. Alex and Amir argue about whether it's worth it. Amir, a former telecom CEO, makes the case that Apple has run this play for twenty years: Nokia shipped the first touchscreen, Samsung shipped NFC years before Apple Pay, and Apple arrives late with the use case...

Summary What happens when one company can make an app used by nearly a billion people disappear from your phone overnight? Alex and Amir unpack the temporary disappearance of Telegram from Apple’s App Store and the bigger power struggle behind it: privacy, moderation, censorship resistance and the growing influence of platform gatekeepers. They debate whether Apple is simply protecting the standar...

Summary What happens when AI companies move beyond chatbots and begin competing for the people, hardware and data needed to control the next computing platform? Alex and Amir examine the reported Apple vs OpenAI lawsuit , OpenAI’s push into physical AI and the increasingly blurry line between recruiting exceptional talent and acquiring a competitor’s intellectual property. They then unpack the deb...

The world’s biggest tech companies are often associated with famous male billionaires, but the global infrastructure is actively being built, saved, and run by female tech leaders operating under extreme pressure. In Episode 24 of The TrickCast, Alex Siletsky and Amir Abdelazim are joined by Chra Hussain, Chief Commercial Officer at Asiacell, who shares her incredible 20-year journey of building a...

The global AI arms race isn’t just changing how our phones work; it’s radically restructuring the workforce and corporate strategy from the inside out. The tech industry is going through a massive repricing event, and the old playbooks are being thrown out. In Part 2 of this special episode, Alex and Amir are rejoined by Pawel Mroczkowski, CEO of DBR77 and a 5x serial founder. Pawel brings his uni...

Apple is facing a massive transition. Tim Cook is officially stepping down, and John Ternus will take over as Apple CEO on September 1st, 2026. But what does this mean for the future of Apple Intelligence, the M-Chip, and the global AI arms race? In Part 1 of this special episode of The TrickCast, Alex and Amir are joined by Pawel Mroczkowski, CEO of DBR77 and a 5x serial founder. Pawel brings his...

We are taking a break from the dark realities of global conflict to focus on an absolute triumph of human engineering: orbiting the moon for the first time in 50 years. The historical, financial, and technological masterclass that is the Artemis II mission marks the evolution of space travel from a Cold War propaganda tool into a commercially viable, multi-planetary business model. In this episode...

The 1st AI War is HERE: ChatGPT 5.4, Autonomous Drones & The Iran Conflict - Ep. 21 We are officially crossing the threshold where the tech sector doesn't just influence geopolitics - it dictates it. Commercial AI like ChatGPT 5.4 is automating workflows, while the exact same infrastructure is being targeted in global conflicts. The line between enterprise SaaS and defense tech has evapora...

A 13-year-old kid types a joke into ChatGPT... and moments later, he’s arrested by authorities using predictive surveillance software. We are no longer approaching the world of Minority Report - we are living inside of it. In this special masterclass episode of The TrickCast, Alex Siletsky and Amir Abdelazim fuse their most profound conversations on Artificial Intelligence into one continuous jour...

From hacking TV broadcast signals with an Amiga in the 90s to decoding the $1 trillion "SaaS-pocalypse," the AI revolution is fundamentally changing how we build and value technology. In this episode of The TrickCast, Alex Siletsky and Amir Abdelazim sit down with global technology leader and excom.ai investor Peter Larnholt to uncover the hidden economics of the AI boom. We discuss why...

From building Egypt’s first 3G network to Apple’s high-stakes pivot into emotional AI, the future of technology is as much about cultural nuances as it is about hardware. In this episode of The TrickCast, Alex Siletsky and Amir Abdelazim sit down with telecom veteran Yehia to uncover the hidden leadership tactics behind massive, nation-spanning tech rollouts. We discuss why localizing AI is the ne...

Summary: From the massive rollout of Australia’s social media ban to Iran’s total internet blackout and the commercial launch of Boston Dynamics' Atlas, 2026 is exposing a darker, more controlled reality for global technology. In this episode of The TrickCast , Alex Siletsky & Amir Abdelazim go beyond the headlines to reveal how governments and tech giants are reclaiming control over the d...

From retina projection replacing smartphones, to Russia’s brute-force "dishwasher" strategy for semiconductors, to Mark Zuckerberg’s quiet talent heist, 2026 is kicking off a massive "Agricultural Revolution" in AI. This week’s TrickCast exposes the physical reality of the future - where phones die, cars think faster than humans, and nations fight for computing survival. This e...

Why McDonald’s Needs Burger King (and Why Founders Need Rivals) A new chapter of “The Art of Competition” - Episode 3: McDonald’s vs Burger King How did two fast-food giants spend decades fighting for dominance without killing each other off? In this episode of The TrickCast, Alex Siletsky and Amir Abdelazim unpack the legendary, symbiotic rivalry between McDonald's and Burger King – and the b...

From the massive potential merger of Netflix and Warner Bros, to Motorola’s pivot into military-grade "self-healing" networks, to Sam Altman’s panic button at OpenAI, this week’s TrickCast exposes the hidden strategies defining the future of media, defense, and AI. This episode connects three industry-shaking stories: Netflix acquiring Warner Bros Discovery - A look at the "traumati...

Summary In this episode, Amir Abdelazim and Alex Siletsky break down three major stories shaking the tech, aviation, and geopolitical landscape: A viral rumor about Tim Cook leaving Apple , and what it reveals about leadership, innovation cycles, and whether Apple is losing momentum without a visionary founder. A shocking Airbus near-crash triggered by a solar event , exposing how vulnerable moder...

Summary In this episode, Amir Abdelazim and Alex Siletsky explore two massive breakthroughs redefining the future of robotics and human-machine interaction: NEO , a new generation humanoid robot designed for homes - and Qualtrics’ $6.5B acquisition of Forsta , giving AI the ability to measure human emotions at scale. They break down how NEO signals a shift from factory robots to empathetic compani...

Summary In this episode, Amir Abdelazim and Alex Siletsky break down three major stories reshaping tech and geopolitics: Elon Musk’s newly approved $1 trillion Tesla package , the rise of robot doctors and humanoid labor , and the EU’s controversial “Democracy Shield” aimed at policing misinformation across Europe. They explore whether Elon’s deal is visionary or reckless, why humanoid robots may...

Summary In this episode, Amir Abdelazim and Alex Siletsky break down one of the most important tech leadership battles of our time: Elon Musk vs Jensen Huang — and what Tesla vs NVIDIA reveals about the future of AI, power, and innovation. They unpack Elon’s controversial $1 trillion Tesla compensation package , exploring whether it's visionary, necessary, or an ego-driven gamble. Then they co...

Summary In this episode, Amir Abdelazim and Alex Siletsky connect the world’s oldest wonders with today’s most powerful technologies — tracing how human ambition evolved from carving pyramids to coding AI. They start with Egypt’s Grand Egyptian Museum — a modern engineering marvel preserving 5,000 years of innovation. From there, they move to NVIDIA’s record-breaking $5 trillion valuation , explor...

Summary In this episode, Amir Abdelazim and Alex Siletsky explore how Palmer Luckey, the visionary behind Oculus VR and Anduril Industries, is transforming science fiction into reality. They discuss the evolution of AI-powered defense systems, the engineering mindset behind Anduril’s innovations, and the moral implications of merging technology with national security. The conversation also unpacks...

Summary In this episode, Amir Abdelazim and Alex Siletsky discuss the recent acquisition of Arduino by Qualcomm and Walmart's innovative deployment of battery-free sensors. They explore the implications of these developments for the tech landscape, emphasizing the importance of open source technology, the future of IoT, and the role of edge cloud in real-time decision-making. The conversation...

Summary In this conversation, Alex and Amir explore the growing tension between the EU Data Act and U.S. tech interests , including Trump’s pushback against European data regulation . They examine how government control, AI surveillance, and corporate power are shaping the future of privacy and innovation. The discussion expands to cover OpenAI’s meteoric $500B valuation , questions about AI ethic...

A new chapter of “The Art of Competition” - Episode 2: Netflix vs Blockbuster How did a tiny DVD-by-mail startup destroy a $5 billion empire? In this episode of The TrickCast , Alex Siletsky and Amir Abdelazim unpack the legendary rivalry between Netflix and Blockbuster - and the bigger lesson about innovation, timing, and killing your own cash cow before someone else does. We cover: The rise of B...